Nothing so much as even hints at what visitors see when the elevator doors open on the 16th, 17th and 18th floors. There, in the offices of Paris-based beverage giant Pernod Ricard, the classic, dropped, acoustic-tile ceiling is gone. Instead, with enclosed offices shifted to the core of the building, staffers work in the 67,000-square-foot space with light streaming in from windows on four sides. Air ducts, pipes and pendant lighting hang from exposed ceilings above their heads, and, beneath their feet, polished concrete floors give the space an almost industrial feel.

"We really wanted to have an open concept that fostered a dynamic workspace and encouraged stronger connections and communication between employees," said Emmanuel Cargill, a senior vice president at the company.

In many ways, the office bears a striking resemblance to the loft-style aesthetic pioneered in recent years by tech and startup firms in midtown south's warren of aging manufacturing and warehouse buildings. But these days, the trend is increasingly catching fire with everyone from blue-chip corporations, like Pernod, to law firms and banks, and in the process popping up from Park Avenue to Wall Street.

Clearing the decks

Brookfield Office Properties plans to renovate its commercial building at 450 W. 33rd St. to accentuate the loftlike features.$200MTotal cost of work$1.7MSquare footage

Driving the switch is a desire to create more "collaborative" work environments, as well as a growing conviction among employers that they need to use the design of their offices to telegraph the right signals to the younger, creative types of employees that are in high demand.

"Over the last two years, the good news for architects and people who care about design is that space has become a kind of currency," said Theodore Hammer, a principal at architecture firm Mancini Duffy.

And that currency is increasingly valued by a new generation eager to work in an open environment that fosters flexibility and teamwork. It also helps that such spaces mark a clean break from the plush, thick-walled offices favored by their parents' peers. At this point, even developers of some of the city's biggest new complexes tout an open, stripped-down look for some of their spaces.

Brookfield Office Properties, for instance, in January officially kicked off a $200 million conversion of the hulking 1960s-era office building it owns at 450 W. 33rd St. That structure will be recast as a glistening gateway for the firm's 7 million-square-foot office, residential and retail complex west of Pennsylvania Station.

"The building's unique mix of high ceilings and large, open floor plates are especially attractive to companies seeking this type of collaborative, loftlike space," Brookfield Chief Executive Dennis Friedrich said in a statement touting the project.

"[Coach] wanted to be in a building that reflected the size and nature of where they are [now], which is a 350,000-square-foot loft building," said Jay Cross, president of Related Hudson Yards.

In another variation on that theme, two big Manhattan commercial landlords—the Moinian Group and SL Green Realty Corp.—have teamed up to pull the loft aesthetic down to the lobby. They are pouring millions of dollars to turn a standard entryway, complete with security turnstiles, into a more collaborative space at 180 Maiden Lane.

The new lobby will feature a café and communal areas that Gregg Weisser, executive managing director at Moinian, said will allow the 1980s-era building to compete in the 21st century.

"I think we are still in the beginning [of the trend toward open, loftlike spaces] in New York," said Fran Ferrone of Mancini Duffy, noting European firms long ago made such features standard.

Even companies that require a high degree of privacy and confidentiality—law firms, for example—are opening up their individual offices with glass walls, according to Scott Spector, principal at architecture firm Spector Group, who designed the Pernod Ricard space.

The sea change has not come without its costs. Surprisingly, building such stripped-down spaces can run about 15% to 20% more than a traditional office, Mr. Spector estimated, depending on the type of materials used.

For example, building a ceiling reminiscent of a gritty, midcentury warehouse is more expensive than suspending acoustic foam panels and rows of fluorescent lights from above.

"Ironically, it often costs more to do an open ceiling than a drop ceiling because a lot of mess is often [cheaply] concealed behind the dropped ceiling," said Nicholas Bienstock, a managing partner at Savanna, a commercial office landlord, who has several tenants who have created loft-style offices.

Instead, he notes that contractors and architects have to find ways to streamline a rat's nest of wiring and ductwork. The same goes for polished concrete floors because carpets and/or raised floors conceal all sorts of other imperfections.

Lower rent

Those extra initial costs, however, are more than offset over time by the fact that open, loftlike spaces allow for a more efficient use of a floor plate. That creates smaller, more densely packed offices—so-called densification—not to mention lower rent bills.

"On the demand side, there has been a fundamental shift," said Mr. Craig, whose firm is building the commercial office tower 7 Bryant Park. "The financial-services sector, as a group, is under more global pressure to get more competitive margins, and they are accomplishing that in part with more efficient space occupancy."

Some observers believe that trend to eliminate office walls and embrace a more collaborative office environment will, in the end, lead to a sweeping away of an even bigger barrier.

"I really believe that within the next 10 years, we will see the dissolution of the traditional workweek," said Ms. Ferrone of Mancini Duffy. Beyond that, she predicts that the traditional office could well fade away "when all the baby boomers retire."

A version of this article appears in the March 3, 2014, print issue of Crain's New York Business as "A lofty goal for businesses".